


Lyanna's Choice

by orphan_account



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Eloping, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-31
Updated: 2013-10-31
Packaged: 2017-12-31 00:57:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1025453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lyanna takes control of her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lyanna's Choice

Before she went south for the great tourney at Harrenhal, Lyanna was content with her life at Winterfell. She knew each inch of the castle and every man, woman, and child within it. She knew the wolfswood and the wintertown. She thought hers was a large, exciting world. However the tourney taught her different. The long journey from Winterfell to Harrenhal, through the Neck and the riverlands, opened her eyes to how big the world was and how small her part of it really was. All those lords and ladies and knights from every corner of the kingdom made her feel like a child from some backwoods. She didn't let it show, but she began to long for more. 

She returned home with Brandon and Benjen, envying Ned. His stories about the Eyrie had been interesting but she'd never wished she could see it for herself until now. Although she still had no especial desire to marry Robert Baratheon, she wanted to see Storm's End. She wanted to explore the Seven Kingdoms, to see and do everything there was to see and do. When it was time for Brandon to go south to wed his Tully fiancee and bring her home to Winterfell, Lyanna told him she was going with him. 

"Hoping for another look at the prince?" he teased her, though Lyanna knew he was touched. 

"Making sure you don't get cold feet and run off to Norvos," she fired back. She wasn't going for Brandon, or for Rhaegar Targaryen. She hadn't thought much about Rhaegar in the year since the tourney, except to curse his name when people teased her about him crowning her Queen of Love and Beauty. 

Lyanna was determined to make the most of this journey south. She frequently wandered off the road to explore the surrounding woods and villages. She wished they could leave the kingsroad altogether and travel along another path so she could see places she hadn't seen on her previous trip south. She suggested it to Brandon but he was in a hurry to reach Riverrun. 

"Do you love Catelyn?" she asked him one day. Robert had declared his love each of the few times she'd seen him and he'd sent her a couple of letters, but Lyanna didn't believe he really loved her. He'd fathered another bastard on another common girl. It seemed to her that if Robert really loved her, he would be faithful to her. Brandon hadn't fathered any bastards that she knew of, but she knew he'd taken some of the prettier serving girls to bed. 

"I suppose I do," her brother answered, "It makes me angry to think of Petyr Baelish trying to get under her skirts." 

That sounded like possession to Lyanna rather than love. Perhaps men loved differently from women, their love sounded like a mix of lust and possessiveness and owning a woman they wanted other men to admire but never touch. It didn't sound like the kind of deep love sung about. Perhaps a few men loved truly and they were so rare, they were immortalized in songs, or perhaps they didn't exist and singers had made them up.

"Does she love you?" Lyanna asked. She had thought she was in love with one of the stableboys when she was twelve. She'd kissed him and even let him touch her chest. Those feelings had passed within a few weeks, but it was more than she'd ever felt for Robert. 

"I suppose she must," Brandon replied, though by the surprise on his face Lyanna knew that he'd never thought about it before. "She gave me her favor," he continued, "Not Baelish." If anyone challenged Robert for her, Lyanna wouldn't give Robert her favor. She wished she could challenge Robert for herself. 

They stayed at the Crossroads Inn that night. They were not the only highborn guests, Prince Rhaegar and three Kingsguard knights were already there. Brandon and Lyanna had to talk to the crown prince, even though Brandon didn't look happy to see him. Lyanna felt a curious sensation in the pit of her stomach when Rhaegar said what a pleasure it was to see her again. He sang in the common room of the inn and everyone, including the inn's cook and cleaners, gathered to listen to him. His songs made the curious feeling grow stronger and Lyanna found herself thinking that Rhaegar sang so beautifully about love, he might be one of the few men who could really love. 

He looked at her while he sang, which Brandon noticed. Brandon hustled Lyanna off to their rooms as soon as Rhaegar finished singing as if he was afraid Rhaegar might try to talk to Lyanna. "He's married," Brandon told her angrily, "If he tries to make you his whore, I'll have to kill him."

Lyanna shoved her brother. She wasn't a child for him to treat her this way and she was angry at his hypocrisy. "Did you think I was going to spread my legs right there in front of everyone?" Brandon tried to apologize, but Lyanna pushed him out of her room. 

They left the inn in the morning and continued their journey. They didn't see Prince Rhaegar again, but at every inn they stopped Lyanna noticed a hooded singer with the same voice. Brandon didn't notice and Lyanna didn't point it out to him. The curious feeling had overtaken her whole body and not only when she was in Rhaegar's presence. During the days he was all she could think about, she was so eager to hear him again. 

Finally at one inn a maid slipped her a note. Lyanna read it and then burned it so Brandon wouldn't find it. She stayed awake and when she was sure Brandon and everyone else was asleep, she left her room and she told the guard she needed to use the privy. Rhaegar was waiting just where the note said he'd be. He grabbed her hands and kissed them. 

Lyanna snatched her hands back. She had wanted to see him, but she was nervous and it made her go on the offensive. "I won't be your mistress."

"I would never dishonor you that way," Rhaegar said, "Marry me, my lady."

"You have a wife," she reminded him.

"I do, and I may take another if I choose," he said, "I choose, Lyanna, and I choose you."

Lyanna knew her history, she knew the first Aegon and several other Targaryen kings had multiple wives. Maegor the Cruel had seven. She didn't like that. If she wed Rhaegar she didn't think she could bear to share him with even one other woman. "I won't share my husband with another woman."

"Then Elia shall remain my wife in name only," he promised.

It occurred to Lyanna that if he could so easily abandon Elia Martell, he might set her, too, aside one day. She told him that. 

"My father chose Elia for me," he explained, "I did my duty as her husband but I never loved her. I love you, Lyanna, and I will until the day I die."

Lyanna wanted to believe him. "My father promised me to Robert Baratheon. He won't break his oath."

"Then come away with me," he urged her, "Your father won't be able to do anything once we're married."

If she left now, Brandon would catch up to them within a day. Her brother might get himself killed trying to fight Rhaegar. If she was going to run away, she needed a good headstart so Brandon couldn't catch her. "Not yet," she told Rhaegar.

She thought about it the next day. Brandon commented that she looked like she hadn't slept and he noticed she was quiet, but he assumed that she was suffering women's troubles. By nightfall Lyanna knew what to do. "Oldstones isn't far from Riverrun," she said, "Let's go there first." 

"It's a week's ride from Riverrun," Brandon complained, "How'd you like it if I wanted to delay your wedding?"

"The wedding isn't for a month yet," she argued.

"I'm sorry, but no," he said.

Lyanna wasn't disapointed. It was good she hadn't persuaded him to take a detour. "I can go without you. You go to Riverrun and guard Catelyn's maidenhead, and I'll go see Oldstones and then come to Riverrun in time for the wedding." 

"I can't let you go yourself, Lyanna," Brandon said, but he didn't sound firm.

"I won't be alone. You can send guards with me," Lyanna said.

"I will send guards with you," Brandon said, "But you shouldn't be without a chaperone." 

Lyanna knew she'd won. "It'd only be for a couple of weeks," she said, "I won't do anything scandalous." She felt guilty about lying to her brother, but she didn't have a choice if she wanted to be free from Robert.

"Okay," Brandon agreed, "But you're to go straight to Oldstones and then come directly to Riverrun. Don't go anywhere else. If I have to search for you, you'll be sorry." 

"Thank you, Brandon," Lyanna told him, "You're the best brother."

"That's what you told Benjen when you got him to lend you his armor," Brandon grumbled, but he smiled at her. 

Lyanna rode towards Oldstones for two days in case Brandon was following her. On the third day she waited for Rhaegar, who was still trailing her, to reveal himself. The guards Brandon had sent with her were prepared to defend her from robbers but they didn't know what to do when they realized she was eloping with Prince Rhaegar. Lyanna told them to tell Brandon what she'd done. 

"Where will we go?" Lyanna asked Rhaegar. The nervousness and guilt of deceiving her brother and defying her father had left her and she was consumed with excitement. 

"There's a place in the Dornish Marches," Rhaegar replied, "I call it the Tower of Joy." 

Lyanna was certain everything would be smoothed over with Brandon and her father eventually. Robert would probably never forgive her, but she didn't care about him. It was her life and she was going to enjoy it. Even if there were problems, she wouldn't regret them because this was her choice.


End file.
